tim pawlenty

It’s a long way from Abbottabad and the White House Situation Room, but in Adel, Iowa, last night, about 100 locals turned up at their town library to take the measure of a leading GOP presidential candidate, Tim Pawlenty. With …

There are at least three things a presidential candidate can never do: order a Philly cheese steak with Swiss cheese, pronounce Nevada “ne-vah-da,” and question the wisdom of the massive federal corn subsidy program. The first …

Can we all agree that the Tea Party brand is effectively kaput for the 2012 Republican primary? That’s not to say that you won’t hear it repeated over and over again, in polls, newspaper headlines and in advertisements for …

Here is Tim Pawlenty’s “response” to President Obama’s campaign announcement.

It’s a crafty play on President Obama’s slogan, “Win the Future.” Asks Pawlenty, with super macho voice manipulation, “I’ve got a question for you. How can America win the future when we are losing the present?” As he says these words, we get a strobe …

The Center for Public Integrity came out swinging Fridaywith a blistering story alleging that “Newt Gingrich is straddling a fine line” by taking millions of dollars from a Las Vegas Casino boss, while at the same time trying to court evangelical voters for the 2012 nomination. But I would not put all my chips on that claim.

Adam Serwer writes today about a state mortgage program set up in Minnesota during Tim Pawlenty’s tenure that structured loans to avoid interest payments barred under Islamic law. He speculates it could become a problem for the ambitious Pawlenty among conservatives who “believe Sharia-compliant finance is part of a ‘stealth jihad’ to …

When news broke of Jon Huntsman’s serious consideration of a run for president last month, several conservative pundits, including the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin, dismissed the former Utah governor’s chances by pointing to his moderate record on global warming, which they predicted would play poorly among the GOP’s conservative …

“The first duty in life is to assume a pose,” wrote Oscar Wilde. “What the second duty is, no one has yet discovered.” A cynic might say the same of Presidential politics. Barack Obama posed as the bearer of hope. George W. Bush posed as a compassionate conservative. John McCain posed as a maverick.

At 3 p.m. today, anyone with a working Facebook account can get exclusive access to an announcement that has already been announced, setting the stage for further announcements about Tim Pawlenty’s desire to be President of the United States. Such is the absurdity of modern presidential politics that candidates create news events out of …

In the Wall Street Journal today, Tim Pawlenty published a self-serving essay about his own bravery in taking on the public employee unions in his state, who never really supported him anyway. It is an obvious piece of political positioning for 2012, and not a very interesting read.

In January, outgoing Minnesota governor and proto-presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty has a (familiar-looking) book coming out, a publicity swing through first-in-the-nation Iowa and New Hampshire (as well as DC, Florida, Ohio and Texas), and above all, an opportunity.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been making a show out of resisting implementation of the Affordable Care Act and the funding for states contained within. He’s not the only one, but his resistance has been noteworthy, in part, because of his presumed ambition to be the GOP nominee for president in 2012. If he does pursue the nomination, …